US Employment – Showing strong growth in June 2013

US employment growth has averaged 213,000 per month so far in 2013; this is up from the average monthly gain of 183,000 in 2012.

In July 2013, the United States of America’s (US) Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) has released data on the US’s employment and unemployment for the June 2013 month.

In the month of June 2013, America’s non-farm employment increased by 195,000 to 144 million, after a 195,000 increase in the May 2013 month. This June monthly increase was driven by a 75,000 increase in employment in the leisure and hospitality industry and a 53,000 increase in the professional and business services sector. The professional and business services sector has in the year to June 2013 increased by 624,000, or by 52,000 a month.

With the solid growth in employment recorded for 2013, the Federal Reserve is looking to cut back on the US$85 billion a month spending on buying treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities in order to stimulate the US economy. While the Federal Reserve may cut its current spending on securities, it plans to keep its short term interest rates near zero as long as unemployment rates remain above 6.5 percent.

As the US heads into the summer months it can be expected that employment growth may slow down again. According to the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), the US needs to increase employment by 1,050,000 a year, or around 90,000 a month to keep pace with the current growth in the US population.

While there has been good growth in news jobs, the BLS reported that in June 2013, the number of underemployed increased to 8.2 million. Underemployed are those individuals that are working part-time due to reduced hours or they weren’t able to find full-time work. This lack of decline in underemployment indicates that for some sections of the US job market growth has been subdued.

In the month of June 2013, America’s monthly unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent, from May 2013.

With overall unemployment unchanged, there was little change in the number of long-term unemployed (those unemployed for 27 weeks or more) in June 2013, with numbers holding at 4.3 million. Long term unemployment represents 36.7 percent of the total number of unemployed. Long term unemployed find it more difficulties to secure work, when compared to those unemployed for shorter periods.